Bravo Squad - The Desertion of Bravo Squad
by nub4lyfe21
Summary: Bravo Squad Series #1. A year after the end of the Clone Wars, a squad of Imperial Commandos desert after witnessing the atrocities being committed by the Empire. The Emperor, however, has plans for them, due to a connection that was made with them to a secret project during the Clone Wars.
1. Chapter 1: On The Run

_Author's Note:_  
 _This is my first fanfic, so please forgive me._  
 _The Mandalorian dictionary has proved helpful in the writing of this fanfic. This is the link of anyone is interested:_

 _This Fanfic is influened by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss_  
 _Star Wars is owned by LucasFilm._  
 _The only thing I own is the Laptop i wrote this on.  
Set in the Legends Universe._

"You have to know the limits of your physical and mental endurance, so you can recognize them and pass beyond them. This is why I will push you beyond any suffering you can imagine. You will not give up and die like lesser men; you will not crack up like lesser men; you will not lose heart in the direst circumstances like lesser men. And you will be the last men standing when the weaklings have opted to do the easy thing and die."

―Sergeant Walon Vau, Mandalorian training Sergeant, to his Cadet Clone Commandos, including Bravo Squad.

* * *

Date: 18BBY

What the hell am I doing?

That was the only thing Falco could think to himself as he ran. It had been a few hours since his squad deserted on Kashyyyk. The only thing he could hear was both his panting and For's heavy panting in his helmet. At least one man from his squad had bothered to join him on his escape.

The other two probably panicked. They're probably being interrogated by ISB right now… unless they're dead.

Falco could feel the tears sting his eyes as he jumped to avoid tripping on a stump. The thought of his pod brother, Cryer, and the replacement, Sixer, lying dead was enough to make him consider topping himself. For was another replacement, but they had participated in enough battles together to gain mutual respect for one another.

He finally stopped to get a bearing for where he was. The only problem was that at that moment, he felt his brother ram into him. Collapsing on the ground, he looked up at the sky to see several V-Wings flying overhead. They were searching for the remnants of Bravo Squad. He hoped that the pilots couldn't see him because of the thick canopy of the trees.

For helped Falco to his feet as he looked around him. The man was missing his helmet, exposing the huge scar across the side of his face. He got it when a Jedi had caused the LAAT/i they were on crashed during night of Order 66. Falco never wanted to remember that moment, but he couldn't forget it. The Jedi Knight throwing himself at the Gunship to protect the Padawans from the troops streaming from the bay. He had managed to slot Nuts, another pod brother. The Jedi Knight looked happy, until Cryer, in an uncontrollable rage, slotted the Padawans before his eyes before taking out his pistol and blasting the fool in the face.

"Heroic, but futile," that's what Cryer had muttered before realizing the gravity of the situation and running off with Falco to get For to safety.

Now, the poor guy was dead, probably, but if they were in the hands of ISB, Falco could only hope they were really dead.

"Come on, _ner vod_ , we gotta move," For yelled in his face before continuing to run, "Rest of the 501st is already searching for us, I swear I could hear one of them a few hundred metres from behind us."

Falco picked up his DC-17, clutching it closely to his chest like a security blanket as he ran after For. Just then, he saw For come to a stop up ahead. Crouching, Falco looked up to see six 501st Stormtroopers emerge, rifles raised and aiming at For's head.

* * *

" _Just my luck. Just. My. Kriffing. Luck_ ," For thought to himself as he lifted his hands up.

One of the Stormtroopers slowly approached him. He was a Captain, by the looks of him. The unblinking eyes of the helmet of the Stormtrooper stared at him, almost into his soul. For didn't know what to do. It wasn't protocol for him to get arrested by his own brothers. The Captain stopped about two metres away from him. Near enough to not miss him, and far enough so that his gun couldn't get swiped from his hands.

"We have our orders, traitor," the Captain's voice announced with acid, "you are to be executed."

"Come on, man, we're all brothers! You know what Vader's doing is wro…" For shouted at him before a rifle butt hit his back with so much force that he swore he nearly got a concussion.

"Enough talk, traitor," One of the Stormtroopers growled, " We swore duty to the Chancellor's office and the Republic. Although the titles have changed, you can't just slot someone and go running off into the jungle just because you feel that what Lord Vader is doing is wrong."

For looked around, hoping that there was an escape route that he hadn't spotted. It was at that moment that he saw a bush behind the Stormtrooper Captain rustle.

"Ready to go to the _manda_ , traitor? As you Commando boys always say," the Stormtrooper Captain mocked as he pulled his SE-14r from its holster. It was shiny in the sunlight from having been polished so sharply.

For threw himself to the ground as a concussion grenade whizzed overhead, detonating in middle of the circle. The six Stormtroopers were temporarily blinded as Falco's DC-17 roared, firing a blue blast into each of their chest plates. With his helmet off the Stormtrooper Captain was bitterly cursing, searching the floor for his rifle until he looked up and saw the muzzle of the DC-17 in his face.

The Captain opened his mouth to say something, but Falco didn't hear any of it as he pulled the trigger.

* * *

The air reeked from the stench of blaster fire. Falco looked down at the Captain's face, starting to feel sick as he realized that it was the face that he saw every morning when he shaved, the face that he laughed with during meal times.

He just killed six of his Clone brothers.

Falco removed his helmet and threw up. Behind him, he could hear For getting onto his knees to search the other Stormtroopers' corpses for ammunition, bacta packs, thermal detonators, anything that could aid them in their run from the Empire.

" _Thank God Sarge taught us how to survive_ ," Falco thought to himself.

Falco wondered how his Sergeant, Vau was doing. All the Imperial Commandos had received kill or capture orders on all of their old Mandalorian training Sergeants. Kal Skirata, Walon Vau, Mij Gilamar, Rav Bralor, you name it, they were on it. The last rumour he heard about them was that they had taken off in a ship to somewhere. Intelligence had no idea where, but nearly every original Tipoca City Commando knew where they had gone: Mandalore.

He wished he could see the beautiful planet that the Sergeants would never shut up about.

A pity he might not live long enough to see it, given the course of their recent actions.

" _Vod_ , snap out of it, I don't want to end up like Ion Team, poor idiots," For suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "we gotta move, _vod_ , if not they're cut off our _gett'se_ and feed it to the nerfs."

Falco looked up and stared straight through For as though he wasn't there. For sighed as he walked up to his brother and patted his back. Falco then looked up at him and replaced his helmet, before staring into his squad-mates eyes.

"Fine, but as soon as we get back to Imperial City, with help or no help, I'm gonna kill every single non-clone _hut'uun_ Imperial I see, " For whispered as he looked over his shoulder at the dead Stormtroopers, "using our own brothers against us… disgusting…"

For nodded in agreement. Lifting the heavy bags filled with gear onto their shoulders, the two escaped members of Bravo Squad started to jog before breaking into a full-blown sprint, running away from the Empire that betrayed them.

"You know, Falco... Sooner or later, we gotta go back for Cryer and Sixer..."

"I know, For, I know... but only if they're still alive when we reach them..."

* * *

Cryer began to stir. His head was throbbing and he could taste blood in his around, He came to the conclusion he was in the holding room that they used to hold suspected rebels and Wookies before bringing them to interrogation. Thankfully, he realized that he and Sixer were the only two there.

He looked down at himself and saw that his armor was missing. Sixer was still knocked unconscious, with his whole face covered in bruises. Before he had blacked out, Cryer remembered Sixer resisting, which is probably what resulted in him being beaten up by the other Stormtroopers.

 _Traitors, the lot of them, beating their own brothers for the mongrel officers._

Suddenly, he heard the door being unlocked. Feigning unconsciousness, he laid down to eavesdrop on the two men who entered the room. He peeked at them, seeing that one of them was wearing the standard issue Stormtrooper armor which identified him as Commander.

The other was wearing the white uniform of an ISB officer.

Oh _osik_ , Cryer thought to himself as the two men began a conversation.

"These are the two prisoners?"

"Yes sir, these two attempted to run off with their squad mates. Luckily a few of us were stationed nearby and spotted them. The other two are somewhere in the forests. Last we heard they eliminated a Stormtrooper unit. One of their rifles were missing, along with all other equipment like thermal detonators and bacta packs. The rest of the 501st is searching for them."

"… Search the forest, Commander, Don't stop until you have found them. Those two men present a dangerous threat to the Empire. If they somehow make it off the planet, they could join one of the rebellions and quite possibly take part in sabotage and assassination, which is the last thing I want on my plate."

"Yes, sir!"

"As for these two… scumbags", the officer sneered before gesturing at the two "unconscious" Commandos, "put them aboard my ship in two standard hours. I'll be bringing them back to Imperial City for… a little chat."

"Roger, sir."

After the two men left the room, Cryer let out a chuckle to himself. At least he knew For and Falco were still alive. Now he just needed to worry about himself and Sixer. Continuing to feign unconsciousness, he started to think up of a plan to get them both off Kashyyyk.

 _Author's Note:_  
 _...And that's chapter 1 folks. Thanks for reading. Whether this takes off or not, I will write another chapter by next Monday._


	2. Chapter 2: Nightmares Of A Clone

_Author's Note:  
I'm on fire. I wrote this chapter immediately after posting the previous chapter. Here's Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy reading it.  
Star Wars is owned by LucasFilm, not me. I only own the laptop this was written on.  
This Fanfic is heavily influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

 _"Not all battle scars are on one's body."_

-Mandalorian Proverb

* * *

It was four standard hours since they had done some sabotage to the base and run, and now they could finally take a break.

For had dug around in his backpack and found his survival kit. They managed to get a fire going in the little cave they were hiding in. Falco had listened to the tactical radio in his helmet. The 501st was finally backing off, and the gunships and V-Wings gunning it back to the Forward Operating Base (FOB) finally confirmed his thoughts.

The two former Imperial Commandos now sat silently, eating the rations that For had nicked off one of the dead Stormtroopers. It tasted like roba but had the texture of rubber, causing the two Clones to cringe every time they took a bite out of it.

As the campfire slowly began to die, Falco unfurled the map of the FOB. They began planning to make their way through the camp and steal one of the TIVs. The Republic-era ships may have been old, but the Clone Commando squads had used it before. Only problem was they needed a pilot. A Clone, preferably.

"So who's the lucky one, _vod_?" For questioned as he leaned back to rest his head on the wall of the cave, "I think we should take Nerfer; he's the best pilot among all of them."

"No," scoffed Falco, who was busy cleaning his DC-17, "Nerfer would probably turn us in. He's a bloody hardliner. Don't you remember? When we eat meals with him, the crazy _di'kut_ would talk to us non-stop about the Empire and 'all it's good deeds'."

"True," For admitted, taking another bite out of the ration, " what about that guy, Slick?" Falco paused at the suggestion, thinking seriously about it. " The brother practically _hates_ the Empire, considering he had a though of flying straight into the Emperor's throne room on Triple Zero."

Falco continued to clean his rifle, noting that there was a crack in the blaster module of the rifle. Cursing his luck, he knew that if the weapon would detonate in his hand should it overheat. "Yeah, Slick it is, brother, only problem is that we have to locate him, but before that…"

"We have to find out where Cryer and Sixer are," For finished. He looked at the ration bar before throwing it out the cave. "Screw it, I'm going to keep watch, get some shut eye," he patted Falco on the back before crawling towards the entrance of the cave.

Falco grunted in reply before reassembling his rifle, lying down, and closing his eyes.

* * *

"So… what happened?"

"I don't know. All I know is that For and Falco made it."

"Thank God. Anything else?"

"Yeah, how'd your face get all messed up?"

"They stunned you first, you were collapsed on the floor. I was busy trying to vibroblade my way out of the scrum. If it weren't for them ganging up on me, I probably would have been able to grab you and run out of the camp with you on my shoulder while firing my DC-17, like one of them Holovids."

"…Yeah, anyway, some _di'kut_ was in here three hours ago. ISB, by the looks of him. We were supposed to be put on a transport ship in an hour ago. Shows you the efficiency of the ISB."

"Heh, the poor idiots couldn't even tie a knot, let alone sort out a schedule."

"Seriously, Sixer, this is no time to joke. For and Falco are probably panicking and flying around like Geonosians out there. We've to find a way to break out of here."

"You know, they can't fly right, Cryer? They're human, am I right?"

"…It's a figure of speech."

"Considering it came from someone with the intelligence of a Weequay, I'm honestly shocked you even knew how to speak Basic, let alone _mando'a_."

"Sixer?"

"Yeah?"

"You're an annoying little shit."

"Thanks, _vod._ "

"…Ok, now help me take this piece of glass I found on the floor, sharpen it, and wait for my signal. I got an idea from this Holovid I saw. It may not work, but if it does... Damn, will I be shocked."

* * *

"But… Lord Vader…"

"No 'buts', Captain Staffen. You are to execute the two prisoners at once. They are to be made an example to the others in the 501st, especially the Commando units."

Captain Staffen stood in silence in front of the hologram. Beside him, the infamous Lord Vader towered over him. Personally, Staffen wasn't afraid of Vader, but he knew of what Vader could do. He had once seen the tall man choke the life out of a Stormtrooper for not polishing his boots. Rumor was that Vader was actually a Jedi. Upon hearing the news for the first time, Staffen had not been surprised. Having served in Republic Intelligence, he knew that Count Dooku was a Jedi, so no surprise there.

The hologram was the person that Staffen truly feared.

The Emperor was sitting down as usual, his dark cowl covering his face. Despite this, the hologram was able to show the yellow eyes in the shadow of the cowl. His hands were wrinkled, alloing one to see that he was incredibly old. Staffen knew the truth about the Emperor, having formerly been one of his Hands. He knew that the Emperor had ordered a Clone Commando unit to go after Ko Sai, the Kaminoan in order to extend his natural life.

A pity that the only thing they were able to retrieve was her head.

The Emperor stroked his chin, amused at the topic that Vader and Staffen were bickering about. He knew of Bravo Squad, having seen the reports when he was still a Chancellor of the Republic. He knew of their several assassinations across the galaxy, from local warlords to officials of the CIS. They were experts in sabotage and infiltrations, having heard of the pranks they would pull on Republic and Imperial Army non-clone officers, or mongrels to them. Also, they had personally saved him once, from an unexpected assassination plot conducted by a... defiant member of the CIS.

"As I was saying, my Lords. The two remaining members of the squad have not been captured yet," Staffen stammered nervously as sweat poured down like laser bolts on his forehead, "it would be unwise to execute them immediately before we can extract any information from them. What if they had made contact with one of the rebellion groups? What if they had planned to run off to the Free-Ryloth movement, or even worse, land on Imperial City and take out an Imperial Senator, or, even worse, one of the two of you…?"

"Watch your tone, Captain, I do not like it," Vader's voice dropped an octave as he stated the words, slightly startling Staffen.

"On the contrary, Captain Staffen may be right," the Emperor nodded in agreement with Staffen, "keep them on Kashyyyk. I will be arriving to… interrogate them. Inform the Garrison Commander of my imminent arrival and keep the two men well fed. We don't want them… dying too soon. And Staffen, I know it's been your request to bring them to Imperial City, but I insist that I speak to them on Kashyyyk. I have a personal interest in this… Bravo Squad…"

With that, the hologram faded off, leaving the two Imperial members standing in completely silence. The Dark Lord turned around and walked out of the room.

' _Probably fuming under that stupid helmet of his_ ," thought Staffen as he returned to his personal quarters.

* * *

The Emperor quietly sat in his shuttle, preparing to take off. Meditating, he knew that he would need all the energy for the events on Kashyyyk that were about to unfold, if his visions were proven correct. He had long ago held an interest in Bravo Squad, since they had saved him from an assassination a few months into the Clone Wars, a few weeks before the Battle of Teth. As a result, he had looked into the Squad's file and selected two Clone Commandos from that squad for a special project. He couldn't recall the Clones' name, but he had memorized the Clones' serial number, never forgetting them since the day he started the project.

1120 and 1848

Those were the numbers of the Commandos he had chosen.

* * *

He was in the middle of the desert.

Falco looked around. The sand was billowing in his face. His armor was brand new, clearly something that hadn't seen combat. He looked down at his feet, suddenly jerking back and falling flat on his arse as he recognized the sand.

He was on Geonosis.

Suddenly, several Clone Troopers appeared next to him, towards the droid army. He was at the command post, looking at the LAAT/i as it touched down. Standing around him was the original Tipoca City Bravo Squad: Cryer, Nuts and Hoffer. As the LAAT/i landed, Jedi Master Mace Windu jumped out. The Clone Commander pushed Falco forward, ordering him to accompany Windu into the fray.

Then all of the sudden, he was engaged in close quarters combat combat with the army of Battle Droids. They surrounded the Squad completely. Falco grunted as he swung his vibroblade and DC-17 around, desperate to drop as many as he could before he was killed. As he grabbed a droid by the head, he pulled the trigger, causing the droid to collapse to the ground.

He heard a shriek from his right. It was Cryer. He had curled up in a fetal ball, and even though Cryer was wearing a helmet, Falco could see, after spending ten years with him, that he was crying. Just as he was about to pull the man to his feet, he heard a voice come from the dead droid.

 _"TRAITOR!"_

Falco jerked his head in its direction before collapsing in shock. He was staring face to face with the 501st Stormtrooper Captain that he shot. His face was charred black from the blaster bolt. He grabbed Falco and repeatedly screamed in his face.

And then the Captain disappeared, replaced by a forest of lush green, trees and bushes and beautiful flowers along a beautiful landscape. Falco felt at peace, until once more he felt his DC-17 in his hands. The lush scenery was replaced by a family of Wookies that Bravo Squad had cornered in one of the villages they were attacking.

An ISB officer appeared behind them and gave the order to open fire.

It wasn't the first innocent Wookie family that they had killed.

And it sure as hell wasn't the last.

Falco fell backwards, hearing nothing but the chaos, the explosions, the blaster fire, and the screams of dying Wookies and Clones all around him. In a response to all the panic, Falco wailed and started to cry. Just then, he heard a combat medic yelling his name.

"FALCO? FALCO?" Falco heard the voice bellowing into his face, "come on, _vod,_ snap out of it."

Falco jerked upright in his sleep. He hit For's face, causing the man's nose to bleed all over his armor. Cursing under his breath, For looked at his brother's face, hoping to see what was the problem with him. He hadn't screamed this much since the Battle of Kamino, after witnessing Alpha ARC A-17 killing the Clone kids.

' _They grow up loyal to the Republic, or they don't grow up at all_.' That's what Alpha told Bravo Squad as he was getting his gear ready to slot the poor kids, and there was nothing they could do about it

For reached for the bottle of insta-caf that he had made. Drinking a sip, he passed the bottle over to Falco, who took it grudgingly.

"Sorry, _ner vod,_ I'll go take watch now," Falco murmured under his breath as he grabbed the DC-17, equipped the Sniper attachment, and crawled outside, leaving For to sit in awkward silence.

For had looked into Falco's eyes and saw it all. This was maybe the fourth or fifth time that he had woken up in a panic, nearly compromising one of their missions, in fact. Falco was a broken man, a broken soldier who was still suffering because of the continued stress of war. The _shabla_ Jedi Council, the Chancellor, they had all been fools. They didn't listen to the report from Mij Gilamar, the report that stated that the Clones couldn't commit to the constant action of war, and that they needed to be frequently rotated out. And with no doctors or psychiatrists stationed at the barracks, it was only a matter of time before they all started to collapse to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

And for a Clone Trooper who spent his daily life on a battlefield, that was a fate worse than death.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I can't believe I managed to finish writing this chapter in under an hour.  
I spent the whole of Tuesday night creating an overall plot for Bravo Squad, from their adventures in the Clone Wars, the night of Order 66 and their missions as Imperial Commandos. I will probably write a whole series on these guys. I'll finish writing this one first before moving on the Clone Wars._


	3. Chapter 3: Preparing For War

_Author's Note:_

 _Well, here is Chapter 3, so I hope you enjoy reading it.  
_ _Also, can anyone find the references I made to two movies that I think are guilty pleasures?  
_ _Star Wars is owned by LucasFilm, not me. I only own the laptop this is written on.  
This Fanfic is heavily influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

" _Never forget who or what you fought for. You lose that, and you may as well be dead."_

-Canderous Ordo, Mandalorian

* * *

For was lying down on his chest, covering Falco as he did some recon on the camp. Falco had been gone for an hour to plant some explosive charges on the anti-air defences, and since For dropped his DC-17 during the escape, he was using his brother's as a "temporary replacement", as Falco specified.

According to his datapad, it had been about 26 standard hours since the attempted desertion, the perfect time for an infiltration as it was dark. They now managed to complete a full circle and were back in square one. All because Sixer and Cryer couldn't shift their _shebs_ when the time was necessary.

Typical Cryer, always lagging behind. Then again, the Kaminoans, according to Falco, had left him too long inside his growth jar, causing some weird side effects. Not to the extent that it deformed him like Ninety-nine, but enough to slow him down a bit.

The base was very tense. Soldiers, Clone or mongrels, were streaming out of the barracks. For noticed that their armor was in a shinier condition. It was saddening to him that the Clones had devolved to such an extent. A dirty armor was a trooper's pride, a mark of several battles. Now in the Empire, it was considered shameful to _even_ have a scratch.

"For, I'm done planting the charges. I'm headed for the Command Structure via the landing pad. Cover me."

For picked up the Sniper and sighted up. The DC-17 was his favorite out of all the rifles that he used. A Three-in-one package, perfect for a Commando such as himself. It's a shame that his one was probably lying in the armory right now, being touched and dusted by some disgusting, fat, ugly ISB officer.

He shifted his gaze towards the landing pad, his eyes widening with shock as he grabbed his comm piece and hastily whispered," No man, back up, back up. We got the Stormtroopers forming some kind of honor guard down there. A shuttle's headed for the landing pad."

Falco sighed heavily into the comm, but on For's end it sounded like a cat purring into the microphone. "Copy, moving through the armory then."

"Good, can you pick up my DC-17 on the way out, it'll be appreciated. I miss my baby, she's been with me a long time and I don't want some mongrel... caressing her, " For joked, hoping to relieve the tension with some humor."

"I'll see what I can do, Falco out," beneath his helmet, Falco allowed himself to grin at For's stupid joke before pressing on.

* * *

Falco entered the armory, E-11 raised. He looked around, confirming that there was no one inside before making his way through the place. He had to cut through here in order to emerge right next to the Command Structure, although it would take a longer time than going through the landing pads. Damn Stormtroopers.

His back pressed to the wall, he walked towards the centre. Pausing to peek around the corner. He spotted a Stormtrooper leaning against the wall, but this fellow wasn't wearing markings of the 501st. The height of the trooper was average, standing at about 1.7 metres tall, not the usual 1.83 metres of a Clone.

"For, I've got a mongrel Stormtrooper here. I'm gonna slot him and ask a few questions that need answering."

For started to interrupt, saying that he already has his _buy'ce_ on and he can just use the Tactical Radio Frequency. "No, I can't use it because they just changed it."

Falco ejected his vibroblade, slowly approaching the trooper. As he was about to ram his knife into his back, another Stormtrooper, missing her helmet, walked through the door on his left.

As the Stormtrooper stood there with her mouth gaping open, Falco did what he was trained to do, swinging his hand out and giving her an upper cut. She yelped as she fell backwards, alerting the other Stormtrooper to Falco's presence. Reacting quickly, he cannoned into Falco, pushing the heavily armored deserter onto the floor and his flinging his helmet off his head.

The Stormtrooper was throttling Falco against the ground, causing the Clone's vision to blur. With no other choice, Falco right hand searched for his helmet grab onto until he got a grip on the chin piece. His hand tightly grasping the helmet, Falco swung his right arm with as much force as he could, smashing the helmet against the Stormtrooper's right temple, causing him to black out instantly.

Pushing the man's limp body off of him, Falco quickly picked himself up just as the female Stormtrooper scrambed back onto her feet, her SE-14r pistol in her hand. It was just at that moment when he removed his DC-15s pistol and shooting her in the leg, causing her to crumple onto the ground.

As Falco quickly replaced his helmet onto his head, he recalled the day on Kamino when Boss, RC-1138, of Delta Squad knocked him cold when he flung his training helmet into his face.

' _I never really forgave him for that, now did I?_ ' Falco questioned himself as he snapped back to the present to hear For blabbing into his helmet.

"Falco, what the kriff was that? Come in, Falco?"

"Relax, I'm alive. The other two mongrels are still alive, but before that…"

Falco glanced down at the two Stormtroopers, who were both still breathing. He looked at the female Stormtrooper directly in the eye, which caused her to spit in his direction.

"I'm gonna be cut off for a while, gonna have a little discussion about the Empire with my two new friends," Falco cut off the comm signal before reaching in his backpack to take out the mesh tape that Sergeant Vau always advised that they carry.

' _It can help to… "persuade" your target to talk.'_

* * *

"This is such a stupid idea…"

"Goddamn it Sixer just hide down there, the guard won't be able to see you. Just keep still until you can shank him."

"…Fine… but if we do get out of here, you owe me a pint of ale," grumbled Sixer climbed and clinged onto the bars on the ceiling of the cell.

Cryer started to shout for a guard, wondering if the _di'kut_ would actually listen to him. He had already gotten Sixer to cut the feed of the security camera that was watching his door along with the lights, so they should have already sent a patrol out to the cell.

"GUARD! GUARD!" Cryer yelled at the helmet of one of the two Stormtroopers looking through the prison bars, "my companion is gone! I don't know what's become of him…"

The two Stormtroopers outside ordered him to push himself against the wall before unlocking the door and bursting into the room. From the shadows, Sixer threw himself at one of the guards, slamming both of them against the wall as he plunged his knife deep into the neck of one of them. The Stormtrooper tried to desperately scream but he couldn't as he was already starting to choke on his own blood. Cryer immediately spun around to pull the second guard deeper into the cell, where he raised his boot into the air.

"For the Republic!" he declared as he stomped down on the Stormtrooper's neck, crushing it into a red paste.

The silence, save for the gurgling of the dying Stormtrooper seemed to last a few hours. Cryer immediately regained his sensors. He looked up at Sixer, who was standing in shock. Realising that since he was the Corporal of the squad, he was in charge.

"Move it, stop standing around and wear his armor. We're busting out of here!"

"Fierfek, I can't believe that worked. It was from a stupid holovid," Sixer sputtered as he pulled the chest piece off the dead Stormtrooper, "sorry, _ner vod,_ but I need this more than you need it."

* * *

Falco stood in front of the two troopers, pacing back and forth to increase the tension in the air as the two Stormtroopers in front of him stared blankly at him. He noted that the woman's leg was already was starting to look infected from the blaster shot that he had given her.

' _Surprised nobody in the camp heard that ruckus,'_ he had thought to himself as he taped both of them to the chairs.

"Ok, this is how this is gonna work," he declared as he sat down in the chair opposite them, "you're gonna answer every single question I ask you, _aruetiise_. You don't reply, I turn you into nerf strips. So this is my first question: Who the hell is coming to this _shabla_ base at the ass end of the galaxy that requires all this extra security? And by 'security', I am referring to you two mongrel shmucks."

The two Stormtroopers looked at each other before giggling. For couldn't believe what he was hearing through his earpiece. It was already common knowledge among the average citizen, let alone Stormtrooper corps, that Commandos and ARCs of the Grand Army were trained in interrogation. For could hear Falco laughing as well, cringing at the thought of what he was going to do to the two of them.

"That's really funny, hahaha…" Falco chuckled before bolting to his feet, grabbing the male Stormtrooper and sticking his vibroblade into the man's head, killing him instantly. The knife penetrated the man's skull, causing him to die instantly. The female Stormtrooper started to scream into her gag as Falco pulled out the knife and wiping it on the dead man's legs.

"You know, I kinda liked your friend over here," Falco glared at her as he towered over her, " he's really entertaining, could've been a comedian on the HoloNet. Really had a poor taste in careers."

Falco moved his face closer to hers, stopping a few inches away. "So tell me, who the hell is coming here."

The woman defiantly stared back at Falco, until he grabbed her leg and taking two of his fingers, grabbed hold of the burnt skin and started to pull on it. The woman let out a scream that made For cringe at the other end of the comm.

The woman said her answer, which caused the hairs on the For's back to stand upright. It had been about four years since they had reported directly to the man, and it was four years since they had saved his life.

The Emperor was landing on Kashyyyk.

* * *

The honor guards of the 2 different units of Stormtroopers, the 501st Legion and the 1st Stormtrooper Legion, all stood at attention as Darth Vader marched down the line with the 501st Commander, Captain Staffan at his side. The shuttle landed on the deck, before the ramp dropped open, revealing the evil that was on the other side of it.

The Emperor had just landed.

Immediately, the 501st Commander rushed up to him to welcome him to the base. The Emperor, however, brushed him aside as he walked down the ramp, where Darth Vader was already kneeling at the base.

"Master."

"Lord Vader," The Emperor acknowledged his apprentices presence before carrying on with his inspection of the troops.

"My Lord, the two Comm- I mean deserters – are this way," Captain Staffan pointed at the prison barracks as he walked next to the Emperor, " The two of them proved to be quite difficult when it comes to handling them."

"I know that, my dear Captain. The Commando units were trained by the _Cuy'val Dar_ , handpicked Mandalorians by Jango Fett. This particular squad was trained by the fiercer of them. Two of them by Walon Vau, one of them by Rav Bralor, and the final one by… Kal Skirata," the Emperor sneered at the mention of the short Mandalorian's name.

"I understand, sir, I've read the reports on their missi-" Staffan was interrupted as a junior ISB officer ran up to him, his face red as sweat dripped down his face.

"Sir, the two deserters are missing! The Stormtroopers sent to their cell are dea…" his voice trailed off as he jaw dropped at the sight of the two leaders of the Empire. He quickly regained his composure and snapped into a salute.

The Emperor sighed, before looking at Vader standing on his right. Looking into the mask, the Emperor uttered the command that Vader had been waiting for.

"Very well. Fine them, Lord Vader, and make them an example for all of the Stormtrooper Corps, except for IC-1120," the Emperor paused before continuing," bring him to me alive."

* * *

 _Author's Note:  
Chapter 3 is done, hope you all enjoyed it.  
These chapters are gonna be slightly delayed a bit. Schoolwork and shit.  
Meh, you gotta do what you good do, right?  
The next chapter is gonna take a different direction. Will keep you all posted on it. Expect by either Wednesday or Thursday._


	4. Chapter 4: The Early Years

_Author's note:  
Yippee! Chapter 4 is finished. This chapter will be a flashback on the life of Bravo Squad. This is however, not the official Prequel story yet. It is just a story I wrote to show the bonds between Clone Commando Squads, and to set up the Project that has been constantly referenced in earlier chapters as well as the final battle on Kashyyyk. It also allows for development of the two Prequel series clones, Hoffer and Nuts, who have had not much time in this series.  
Star Wars is owned by LucasFilm, not me. I only own the laptop that this was written on.  
This Fanfic is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Travss._

* * *

" _You will emerge stronger than you ever were in your previous life, so long as you remain true to your brothers, true to your_ _Mand'alor_ _, and true to yourself."_

-Mandalorian Drill Sergeant

* * *

 **Date: 28BBY**

He couldn't sleep that night.

The meds given to Hoffer by Gilamar did little to ease the pain from hand-to-hand combat training. That was the _last_ time that he would ever volunteer for one of Sergeant Vau's demonstrations. Vau had grabbed him by his belt and flung him over his shoulder, smashing him onto the training mat with enough force to cause the loudest noise ever made in Tipoca City.

Excluding the thunder of course, that shit was loud.

He winced with his pain as he turned over in his cot. Mij Gilamar had said it was just pure luck that he hadn't sustained any broken ribs before turning back at Vau and gesturing him to the door. Outside in the hallway, Hoffer had heard the two of them getting into a loud argument. Mij had ended his by declaring that what they were doing was morally wrong using kids, and that Jango could take his _shabla_ creds and shove it up his _shebs_ when they were finished with the training.

Gilimar was right about one thing though, and that was that using children was just pure wrong. It was one of the most hotly debated topics between the Sergeants of the _Cuy'val Dar_. The Clone Cadets had the appearance of eight year olds, but that was because the Kaminoans, or Aiwha-bait as Sergeant Kal was so fond of calling them, had altered their genetic structure.

They were actually only four years old.

Above him, Cryer snored loudly, oblivious to the pain that his pod brother was going through. Hoffer sat up and jumped off his cot and started to walk towards the door leading to the hallway. He needed to use the loo very badly, and also the fact that he enjoyed the view as he walked along the hallways of Tipoca City. It got boring quickly though, as it was always the same thing; rain, some lightning, more rain, more lightning. It was no wonder that one of the _Cuy'vul_ _Dar_ actually topped himself.

Hoffer suddenly jerked to a stop as he realised he wasn't the only one admiring the view. Up ahead, Kal Skirata stood looking straight at him. The man's eyes were large, as though he was about to yell at the Clone to quickly go back to sleep. Fearing a scolding, Hoffer quickly turned on his heels and started to walk back to his bunk, until he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

"What's your name, son?"

Hoffer was stared in fear into the eyes of the old man. Skirata stood high above the boy. He had the aura of someone you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway on Coruscant. However, the way he was looking down at Hoffer, it looked more like a confused father wondering why their child was so afraid of them.

The Cadet opened his mouth to reply, loudly enough to be heard by the Sergeant but softly enough so that the other Cadets could get their beauty sleep, "Sir, I am designation RC-1-"

Skirata suddenly jerked back in horror, causing Hoffer to wonder what he had done wrong. The Mandalorian was taken aback, hearing a human, a _child_ no less, introducing himself by his so-called 'designation'. He squatted down so that his eyes were at level with kid's, causing him to wince with pain due to his knees.

"No, no, son. Firstly, I'm talking about your real name. Not those stupid numbers the Aiwha-bait gave you. Secondly, don't call me 'sir'. You can either call me 'Sarge' or Kal. Understand me?"

Hoffer looked down at his feet, away from Skirata's eyes before murmuring, "Yes, si- I mean, Kal. My name is… Hoffer."

"And how did you get that name, son?" asked Kal as he started to fish around in his pocket for something," and would you walk with me? My knees will kill me if I continue to squat like this."

"I got it from Sgt. Vau. He said that I always act all dramatic when my squad get into trouble, which is usually a lot. Hoffman is the name of some award-winning dramatic actor from the Holovids, so… yeah" Hoffer's voice trailed off, his face turning red due to the embarassment of his name's origin story.

Skirata chuckled, finally finding what he was looking for. He took out a bag of warra nuts and threw them at the kid,"Have some, kid, these _warra'se_ will do you some good."

"Yes, Kal," Hoffer replied as he ginerly tucked into the little packet. Warra nuts were his favorate delicacy. He would often try to trade his rations with the rest of his pod brothers for the nuts, but they were usually already gone because Nuts would have taken them, who got the nickname when he sliced into the commissary to steal all of the Warra Nuts.

Sergeant Vau had given a tough PT thrashing right after that. He made Nuts throw up ten times over the next 24 standard hours.

The two continued to stroll in silence, occasionally interrupted by Hoffer chewing the warra nuts up in his mouth.

"Kal, do you think it's right for the Republic to use kids as their cannon fodder?" Hoffer suddenly interrupted the silence, "I mean, what if the war broke out tomorrow, the Republic would be placing children up against a, I don't know, a Droid army, or getting us to pilot an AT-TE. Don't you think it's just... wrong?"

Skirata looked down at the kid in shock, who was still munching on the nuts. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, and yet was comforted by the fact that the Null ARCs weren't the only ones with this mentality. Personally, he agreed with what the kid was saying. It was one thing to recruit soldiers from the civilian population and another to create a bunch of clones to become a slave army of any government. He didn't want to tell the boy what he personally thought, in case the Aiwha-bait send him for 'reconditioning' as he was 'defective'.

And the last thing he wanted was to see more Clone boys be put down. The Nulls were already evidence of the Kaminoans doing disgusting acts, putting down _kids_ as though they were farm animals.

"Well, son, here's what I think," Skirata stopped walking to look out at the window, spotting an Aiwha flying in the distance, "I think that if the Clone army was deployed right now, you guys might not stand a chance, but you can learn your mistakes from that defeat and win the next time round. If they cut off one of your _gett'se_ , you can learn from that fight, turn around, and cut off two of his."

"You …uh…still didn't answer my question."

Kal shut his eyes tightly, ready to let the barrage of words come out of his mouth. "Yes, I think the Republic using kids is wrong. Yes, I think that the Chancellor can go and eat his own pile of Nerf dung because of the way that he's using you. Yes, I think that we should go to Jango's quarters, line him up against the wall, AND PUT TWO VERPINE SHATTER RIFLE ROUNDS INTO HIS HEAD."

Hoffer was astonished by the Sergeant's words. Kal finally calmed himself down, opened his eyes and looked down at Hoffer. "What's imporant to me, son, is whether you're happy ,or not, to serve the Republic. I'm sure I can find a way for you to get off Tipoca City."

"I can't Kal, I've still got my brothers to worry about. I just can't abandon Cryer, Nuts and Falco…they're like family to me," Hoffer stated while looking straight into Kal's eyes.

"…Yeah, I agree with you, _Alit ori'shya tal'din_ ," Kal let himself give Hoffer a small grin when he saw the kid's puzzled face,"It means 'family is more than blood'. You may share the same DNA structure as all of the Fett Clones in this _shabla_ end of the galaxy, but your squad will always be your familly. You look after your own, and they look after you. Genes count for nothing."

He glanced down at his chrono before looking back at Hoffer, "alright son, head back to your quarters. You're gonna need a nap for what Vau's got planned for you tomorrow. And keep this conversation between the two of us, ok? I don't want the Aiwha-bait doing something they'd regret."

"Yes, goodnight, Sarge."

Skirata contined to look out the window as the Hoffer darted quickly back into his quarters that he share with the rest of Bravo. Remembering what Skirata had said and what he recalled from what Vau had posted on the bulletin board, Hoffer reached into his locker, pulled out a pack of warra nuts, walked over to Falco's bed and attempted to put it under Falco's pillow.

"What are you doing, Hoffer?" Falco suddenly said, causing Hoffer to jerk back as he dropped the pack on Falco's chest.

"Haven't you heard, _vod_ , Sergeant placements just came out yesterday," Hoffer looked down at Falco with a wide grin on his face, exposing his white teeth, "congratulations, Squad Leader.

Falco laughed as he tore open the bag of nuts and shared them with his brother. The other members of Bravo Squad started to stir at the sound of nuts being crunched, eventually coming together as a little group to eat, talking and chatting with each other as though they were one big family. Nuts was desperately trying to stop Cryer from eating all of it. Falco was leaning on his back, throwing nuts into his mouth and praying that Vau didn't catch them awake at this hour. Hoffer sat on his bunk, silently, but watching the four of them goofing around.

He just hoped that whatever battles they encountered in the future, they would make it out alive. Because, as Skirata had said to him, his squad was his family. And family was more important than anything.

* * *

 **Date: 22BBY, 3 months after the Battle of Geonosis**

Nuts was walking back and forth, waiting impatiently for the med droid to get his tinny _shebs_ out of the surgery room so that he could talk to it.

It had been two weeks since the Battle of Kamino. His pod brothers Falco and Hoffer were both in critical condition after a Spider Droid got wind of both of them on the roof of Tipoca City and blasted both men into the deep sea of Kamino. If it weren't for their Katarn armor transponding their locations, both of the Commandos would have drowned.

Both men had been put into a coma due to the explosion.

The Katarn armor was strong enough to take a direct exposion from a grenade, but it was like being putting a rat in a box and shaking it violently. Hoffer and, especially Falco, had severe brain damage. The med droids had been uncertain if they would ever come out of it, and if they did, they were unsure if the two Clones would remain vegetables.

As the conscious members of Bravo Squad went to visit them that morning, they both, conincidentaly, started to suffer a severe brain haemorrhage. They were both immediately rushed into surgery, leaving a pissed off Nuts and visibly shaken Cryer waiting outside the room. Nuts was anxious to hear the results of the surgery as the med-droid walked out of the unit, rushing up to meet it halfway.

From his seat, Cryer couldn't hear what the tinny was saying to Nuts, only that he saw his buddy freezing up in his armor. Recognising the typical signs, he ran up to Nuts, grabbed hold of both his arms just as he started to swing them at the droid.

"You _shabla_ _di'kut_! You wanna put my brother down as though he was some kind of animal on a farm?! He's a goddamned human being, you waste of kriffing space."

"There's little I can do," the med droid protested as it retreated, raising both of it metal arms in the air, "their Republic Army property. If they're brain dead. Standard Operating Procedure is to terminate their life support."

"Cryer, let go of me! I'm gonna put two rounds into this stupid tinny," Nuts yelled as he pushed Cryer off of him, removing his DC-15s from his holster.

"Now, that's enough, don't you think?"

The fiasco was suddenly interrupted by a calm, smooth voice from the shadows. It was only when the figure moved out that both Commandos snapped to attention. The figure gracefully crossed the room until I stood in front of both of them.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was, at the time, looked as though he was in his late fifties. The man was tall, around a Clone Trooper's height. He wore a bright red robe, a requirement for all Chancellors of the Republic. He had looked extinsively tired and stressed, Nuts suddenly recalled that the Chancellor had personally arrived on Kamino to look at the consequences of its defence. Palpatine stopped in front of Nuts and extended his hand out for a handshake, causing the Clone to freeze in surprise.

"I understand the problem that RC-1848 and RC-1120 are both facing. Due to the fact that your Squad managed to save my life on Coruscant, I will now repay my debt," he looked down at the tinny, which was appearently frozen in position, "escort the two Clones to my shuttle. They will be heading for my personal aid facility on Coruscant. They will be treated by the best doctors that the Republic can afford."

He looked back at Nuts, "you men are the most courageous soldiers that have ever defended the Republic. Thank you for both your services."

He turned and walked off, leaving a shocked Nuts and Cryer behind in the medbay.

A few standard hours later, after Palpatine finished doing all the formalities of a Chancellor, such as visiting the wounded troops in the medbay of Tipoca City for the HoloNews bot that was flying around him, he finally meeting Prime Minister Lamu Su, who gave him the bad news that Chief Scientist Ko Sai had died in the battle. Frown very visible on his face as he walked back to his shuttle, the two Senate Guards following behind him, Palpatine decided to get one of his more experienced Hands to investigate further.

Yes, Colonel Kofer would be an excellent choice.

As the shuttle entered hyperspace, Palpatine took off his safety harness to walk back to the cargo bay. Inside, he looked at the two pods containing the Clones that had saved his life. Palpatine couldn't help but give a smile at the thought that his project was one step closer to completion.

Project INHIBITOR was certainly going to be a success.

* * *

 **Date: 22BBY , 4 months after the Battle of Geonosis**

Cryer was sitting upright on his bunk, looking at his datapad, reading the story on it about a certain groups fighting in the desert. One faction believed in Democracy, the other Tyranny. However, another individual was also at play, one who hid in his tower of a Casino.

Nuts was trying to get some shuteye on the bunk below Cryer, but it was no use. Every time he close his eyes, he relived the moment that Sergeant Skirata walked into their dorm room to announce that only Falco had regained consciousness, and that Hoffer had died. Cryer, true to his name, burst into tears at the news. Nuts was the only one who remained calm as Skirata presented Hoffer's armor tally to him. Now, Nuts wore it around his neck wherever he went.

The door suddenly opened, startling Nuts and causing his to smash his head into Cryer's bunk. Swearing, he turned around to see a Clone standing in the doorway. This brother was wearing the standard-issue Commando armor, not the green camouflage pixelated ones that Bravo wore. He looked at Nuts, and Nuts looked back, wondering who would break the silence.

Sighing, Nuts walked up to the trooper, who introduced himself as For, "I've been transferred to Bravo Squad. I'm supposed to be your new Demolitions Expert," he looked away at the ground, "sorry about Hoffer, _vod_ , he was a good man."

"Thanks, your bunks over there. I'm Nuts, by the way. That's Cryer on the bunk," he gestured at Cryer, who didn't respond in anyway, "you can put your _kebise_ over there, set up shop," he pointed at the top of the 2 unocuppied bunk beds.

Cryer suddenly shot the two clones a glare, sadness in his eyes, "that's Hoffer's old spot, not yours. Remember that."

The two Clones stared at each other, daring the other to make the first move. Nuts didn't want them to get into a fight. Orders were orders, and he didn't Skirata to get more upset over the fact that more of the boys were fighting again.

The door whooshed open again. This time, an ARC Captain walked into the room, carrying a bag over his shoulder. Beside him, Falco stood leaning on his crutches, wincing his pain everytime he took a step into the room.

"That all the help you need, Falco? Need me to get you some uj cake?"

"No, thanks, Ordo. Much appreciated," was all Falco could mumble, clearly a shadow of his former self.

As Captain Ordo left the room, Falco started to sob, which made Cryer put down his datapad. Leaping off the bunk, the three original members of Bravo Squad wept together, a part of their family missing forever. This gave For second-hand embarrassment as he put down his gear, not sure whether to join in or to just linger on the outside.

Losing a man was bad enough. Losing a family member was devastating.

* * *

"Colonel Kofer, how are you?"

"I'm fine, sir, how goes Project INHIBITOR?"

"We managed to do it. I've never thought we would have succeeded. I was sure that both Clones would have died without your interference. How is the scientist that you managed to get for the project."

"She's dead, sir. The Coruscant Security Force will find her in the lower levels. Rats would have probably chewed through her corpse by then."

"Excellent work, Colonel, anything to report on Ko Sai?"

"Yes, sir, we have confirmed a report that someone spotted her fleeing in a Suwantek Transport during the battle."

"Good, what happened to this…witness?"

"RepIntel got to the Clone, sir. He'll no longer be an interference in your plans," Kofer shuffled nervously on her feet, "as for any other information on Ko Sai, we have nothing yet. RepIntel is still investigating possible reports throughout our allies, especially on planets with the perfect living conditions for a Kaminoan."

"Very well, keep me informed. Palpatine out."

"Yes, sir."

Palpatine gazed outside the window at the bustling city of Coruscant. He wondered what would happen to RC-1120, now that he was up and running, and that his brother was dead. He still couldn't make out the visions in his head that were keeping him, a Sith Lord, up at night. He made out someone firing a blaster at him in a base on a green planet somewhere in the Outer rim.

He could rest easy, for now. But when the time came, he knew he would fight back and eliminate all threats to his path for Sith dominance. The Jedi Council would be the first ones to go, and then... the whole galaxy will bow down before them.

* * *

 _Author's notes:  
Well, that's Chapter 4, see you all soon for Chapter 5: Chaos Of Combat, which should be out during the weekend.  
As for Colonel Kofer, she'll play a bigger part in the Prequel series of Bravo Squad. Until then, I'll leave ya'll in the dark on who her character is._


	5. Chapter 5: Chaos of Combat

_Author's note:  
I promised, and I delivered. Chapter 5 is here in time for the weekend. Chaos erupts on the battlefield, for both the Stormtroopers as well as the Squad, as revelations are made.  
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop I wrote this on.  
This series is heavily influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

 _"Make no mistake: life is a war."_

-Mandalorian Drill Instructor

* * *

 **Date: 18BBY**

 **Location: Military Vehicle Landing Pads, North-West Side of Kashyyyk Forward Operating Base**

Slick was running to his TIV. Alarms were blaring all around the base, his co-pilot York running next to him. They had no idea what they were doing, just that they were ordered to get to their ships on standby for evacuation. Rumor was that there was some saboteurs were running around the camp. Wookies were to big to go around doing some guerilla warfare, and he was sure that Bravo Squad weren't stupid enough to bother to come back here.

He was still thinking to himself as he swung himself into controls to prepare for take off.

the pilot seat about the arseholes that had decided to ruin his day, just as Jeff was flicking some

He jumped as a hand pressed against his mouth, along with a knife pushed against his throat, ready to slit it should he make any funny moves. Beside him, he heard Jeff getting knocked out, falling out of his seat with a grunt. The poor non-clone pilot had been assigned to his TIV, the _Ranger_ , yesterday. He was already being made fun of by the other Clone pilots, taking the mickey out of his bright blonde hair.

Slick's chain swung around, only to be greeted by the sight of a Clone with a huge scar on his face. His armor was covered with mud and his lips were bloody, as though he received a massive punch across the front of his face.

"I'm gonna let go of your mouth. If you scream, I'll make the inside of the cockpit look like a Sarlacc Pit, ok?" For whispered under his breath as Slick nodded his head desperately. As For let go of his mouth, the pilot dropped to the floor on his knees, gasping for air.

"Fierfek, what's wrong with you? What the hell is wrong with you, coming to the base after deserting?" wheezed Slick as he spotted another pair of equally muddy boots walking slowly to him from Jeff's unconscious body. He looked up at the man, who looked as though he had aged in the last twenty-four hours.

"Falco? What's going on? What are you guys doi-" Falco raised his hand in the air, calling for silence."

" _Ner vod_ , we're gonna need your help," Falco groaned out as he helped Slick to his feet.

As Falco explained what he knew so far, and what the plan was for getting off Kashyyyk, the pilot smiled, finally getting the chance to get out of the Empire once and for all.

* * *

 **Location: Prison Blocks, South side of Kashyyyk Forward Operating Base**

When the 1st Stormtrooper Legion saw that he was coming towards them, they quickly move out of the way, afraid of even having to stand in his way, let alone have a conversation with him.

Darth Vader stormed towards the prison blocks, generating an aura of anger as he approached the cell that ICs 1322 and 1626 had broken out of. The junior ISB officer was already standing there examining the crime scene, with Captain Staffen was trying to establish a line of communication with the Garrison Commander. The Commander was not responding to anyone attempting to communicate with him, causing the 501st Commander to send two units of Stormtroopers to investigate.

Vader slowed his pace down, as the Junior ISB officer started to rant at a Stormtrooper for letting this happen. On the ground, the two dead Stormtroopers' were already starting to smell really badly. Vader noted that the cameras and lights were cut off before seeing the sharpened glass in the neck of the more bloodier Stormtroopers. He looked up, seeing the cracked glass of the small glass smoke detector on the ceiling cracked. A fool would have noticed the obvious mistake. He needed to find out who was responsible for the prison cell.

He stopped just next to Captain Staffen, who had noticed him and kept his comlink. Instead of looking down at the ground like nearly every officer, the Captain looked straight into his eyes, nonetheless afraid of him.

"Who was responsible for this prison, Captain?" Vader questioned Staffen. Knowing what was going to happen, Staffen sighed as he pointed at the Junior ISB officer.

"Lord Vader, please have mercy, for this case. That officer just graduated from the Academy. He's actually a nice lad. Its not worth…" Staffan shut up as Vader lifted his finger to signal for silence.

All of a sudden, the Junior ISB officer started to choke, spitting saliva onto the Stormtrooper's helmet as he backed away in shock. Captain Staffen was unable to look at the boy, having seen this scene countless times during the original invasion of Kashyyyk. Wookies, Ion team, renegade Jedi, he had lost count of how many times Vader choked the life out of someone.

The junior ISB officer dropped to the ground, dead. The silence in the room was thunderous. Staffen didn't know if he should say something, but just at that moment, the Stormtrooper whom the ISB officer had been talking to spoke up.

"My Lord, we've found the two renegades. They're defending themselves at the East side of the camp. We've found two bodies in the armory."

Lord Vader wasted no time, walking out of the room while Captain Staffen picked up his comlink and ordered all Stormtroopers to converge on the East side of the camp.

Then it hit him faster than a ship in in hyperspace. The armory was on the South West side of the camp, near the Diplomatic Landing Pads. He felt a shiver down his spine as he realized that there was only one logical explanation for multiple bodies to be found all over the camp.

The other two Commandos were back.

Pulling out his comlink, Staffen decided to call the only person he knew who could sort out this mess of a situation. Right now, that person was sitting in the shuttle on the landing pad, meditating with a wicked smile on his face, as though this was all going according to plan.

* * *

 **Location: Command Structure, Centre of Kashyyyk Forward Operating Base**

 **5 minutes earlier**

It was TK-1528's first day of duty on the Battlefield, and it was a day he would never forget.

A Spaarti Clone, he was one of the few replacements inserted into the 501st Legion. His orders were simple. Simply do whatever his Sergeant told him what to do, and everything will be fine.

That was until a squad of Clones started to mess around on the base.

Not just any group of Clones, but a Clone _Commando_ Unit. And he heard these guys were Bravo Squad. He was forced to read about them when he was being trained at the secret facility on Coruscant, and after that they were on Kashyyyk, he wanted to meet his heroes in the flesh.

Now, he was being made to hunt them down. He stood outside the door to the Command Structure, ready to kick it in as soon as his superior tapped his shoulder.

The first kick didn't knock down the door. The second kick did the job properly. As the door flung itself open, his Sergeant threw in a concussion grenade, which detonated in the centre of the room. As the Stormtrooper's entered the room, what they saw caused nearly all of them to remove their helmets and throw up.

The room was filled with dead Imperials, including the Garrison Commander. He was tied to the chair that he occasionally lounged on when there was nothing to do but rest. TK-1528 bent down in front of him. As his unit's medic, he checked for a pulse on the Garrison Commander but found nothing.

It was then that he heard blaster fire coming from the east side of the base, near the freshers. Soon, he heard an order from that ISB Colonel blaring through his comms, ordering all Stormtroopers to move there. Quickly moving towards the East, he spotted lasers flying all around the place. He took cover quickly, seeing two 1st Battalion Stormtroopers fall as they ran out of cover. It seemed that nearly every Stormtrooper was missing their shots while the renegades were hitting everything that moved.

" _So these are my heroes, eh? Not bad, for deserters,'_ TK-1528 thought to himself as he swung himself out of his cover to return fire, only to find himself getting shot in the chest.

He knew from the pain that he had been hit. But luckily, his first aid kit took the brunt of the impact. As he fell back into the world in unconsciousness, TK-1528 felt nothing, but a sense of embarrassment, that he had not fired a single shot in his first day of combat. Rather, the enemy hit him.

* * *

"Got one of 'em!" Cryer yelled out as he ducked back behind one of the fresher units.

The two could feel the Stormtroopers out there breathing down their necks. They didn't expect to get called out so quickly, but as they were approaching the Military Landing Pads, a checkpoint had been set up. A 501st officer had come over to badger Sixer with questions, and when he accidentally replied to him in fluent _mando'a_ , the officer had panicked. The only thing that Sixer had felt in that moment was panic, which resulted in his E-11 coming up, the officer dropping, and the whole kriffing base chasing after them to the freshers.

"Hey Cryer," Sixer yelled from behind one of sinks. They were both trapped in the long corridor of the freshers, with Sixer shooting in the opposite direction. "When my day started this morning, I never imagined that I'd die like that famous singer on the Holovids, what was his name, Presley?"

"What about him?" Cryer quipped as he fired a three round burst into another Stormtrooper, causing him to pull the trigger of his E-11 as he spun around and caught another Stormtrooper. Inside, Cryer whooped to see that he killed two Stormtroopers with one blast.

"He… _died on the fresher_ ," Sixer snorted into his mike, causing Cryer to lose his focus, allowing three more Stormtroopers to enter the freshers.

"Six, I swear if we don't make out of this alive. I'm gonna…" The roof of the freshers above them exploded, pushing the two men onto the ground. A TIV hovered in the air above them as five Stormtroopers ran in from opposite sides, kicking their weapons away from their hands and raising their rifles to their chest.

And a blue blast hit one of the Stormtroopers in the face.

The other Stormtroopers jerked in shock, the last action they did as all of them fell to the ground, a round fired into each of their faces. Sixer froze as he realized only a few Clones could perform a hit like that, and as he looked up, a grin spread across his face.

Falco and For landed on the ground near them, having successfully rappelled from the _Ranger_. Slick gave them a two fingered salute, while Jeff was banging on the inside of the supply closet that they had stuck him into, assuring himself that _it's just a prank bro._

"All Stormtroopers, back off. I repeat, halt the attack, we're sending in a surprise," Cryer heard someone boom into the Tactical Radio Frequency.

For pulled Sixer to his feet, allowing the man to look at For's scarred face. He pulled a face, as though he was disgusted to see it. For, however, knew that it was Sixer and his own inside joke. He dusted off his brother's shoulder as he passed him his DC-17.

"Found these in the armory, take it. We're gonna kick some Empire _shebs_ ," For let out a belly laugh as he removed his empty blaster pack and replaced it with a fresh one, "These Imperials don't know what's comin' to them."

" _Su cuy'gar, ner vod,_ " Sixer quipped as he checked his baby for any cracks, "took you guys long enough, I was starting to get sick of having to go along with Cryer's stupid plans. Do you wanna know what he did to get us out of the ce-"

Falco raised his left hand and pointed down the hallway," save the chat for later, boys. I wanna get away from this planet as soon as possible. We gotta make our way out of here to a clearing or the landing pads so that Slick can pick us up and get us to Mandalore."

For looked shocked, grabbing his brothers' armor and pushing him against the wall, "I thought we were going to take the fight to the Empire. Show them that they can't use us as tools to commit war crimes, to show them that we aren't slaves!"

"And we'll do that sooner or later, but first we need to contact Skirata," Falco pushed For back, shrugging him off of him, "he has the resources to pull something like that off, and I bet my right _gett'se_ that he's planning something like that as we speak."

"Hey… guys? We might have a problem here…" Cryer whispered to the team as they raised their DCs to aim down the hallway.

They all froze as they recognized who was standing out there. The figure stood at two metres tall. They heard wheezing, giving both Falco and Cryer flashbacks to when Vau PTed Nuts until he puked. The figure reached into his belt. And without warning, a red beam shot out.

Vader was ready to kill all of Bravo Squad.

All of a sudden, Cryer collapsed to the floor, screaming in panic.

* * *

The images were flooding Cryer's mind again.

The lightsaber, of all the _shabla_ things in the galaxy, was what triggered his memories. Not the shooting, not the explosions, but the sight of a lightsaber was enough to cause the man to collapse to the ground in panic. It brought back the memories of the night of Order 66, when he slotted the Padawans that that Knight had been trying to protect. He had always justified on firstly, Nuts' death and secondly, orders were orders. But the guilt of killing kids, the burden that he carried was heavy. And he couldn't live with it. Were it not for the rest of Bravo intervening, he would have topped himself on Coruscant after their operation.

Falco turned around, grabbing Cryer by the shoulder and pulling him onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry. He turned around, pointed at Vader and uttered the words that they had all trained it, regardless of Sergeant.

"Eliminate target."

The roar of DC-17s in the cramp corridor was deafening. Vader blocked every shot that was being fired at him as he slowly walked forward. Cursing, For swapped out his blaster attachment for his grenade launcher. He fired one round straight into Vader as the rest of the squad retreated out in the opposite direction, halting Vader's advance. Sixer did the same in order to cover For's escape. They repeated this until they made it out of the freshers into open ground.

"Come on guys," Falco said as he used his right arm to spray his DC-17 into three Stormtroopers standing in front of him, "we gotta move through the canteen. It's the only sheltered way to the landing pads."

"Quick question, Sarge? How in Jabba the Hutt are we supposed to stop Vader," Sixer yelped as the Dark Lord slowly advanced towards them, 501st in tow.

"Lure him towards the canteen, I've set up a series of explosives there to deal with the anti-air. Now we can… re-purpose them," he huffed as he ran in that direction with Sixer and For in tow, running past the cannons into the mess hall as the doors sealed shut behind them.

Falco looked out through the window, pleased to see that Vader was taking the bait. His rage had blinded him, preventing him from seeing the explosives as he led his troops into the trap.

He had no regrets as he pressed the detonator. The explosives detonated, causing the cannons to explode. The debris landed on the Stormtroopers, the heavy weight causing their armor to buckle, crushing their internal organs. Vader himself didn't see it coming when the debris literally blocked the mess hall door from opening.

Falco jumped down from the window. He saw For desperately trying to slice into the door terminal to seal it. Sixer was trying to get Cryer to snap out of it, who at the moment was currently sitting down on the floor, his eyes wide with shell-shock.

Just then, he heard a shout coming from the tables. Falco turned to see a guard, not an armored one, just an average guard come out, a blaster pistol raised at For's head. It wasn't the standard SE-14r that Stormtroopers used, but rather the much-rarer DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. The reason he recognized that pistol was because he had always wanted one.

He tried to react quickly, jumping in the line of fire as a shot rang out.

Except it didn't sound like a DL-44.

He landed with a thud, seeing the man too fall to the ground in a heap, a smoke trail leaving his body. He looked behind him to see a SE-14r raised in the grips of Cryer, who was still holding it aimed at the guard's general direction. Sixer was looking at the man in shock.

Cryer got up to his feet, shoving the blaster back in his holster and checking his DC-17. Once he was done, he looked at For in the eye for a second, as though time had frozen. Both men didn't move until Cryer suddenly cracked a smile.

"Saved your nerf strips," he joked as both men started to giggle like fourteen year olds.

Well, they were fourteen year olds, technically.

Falco was glad to see his men joke around, but quickly told them to get their gear in order. He knew that Vader was probably trying to find ways to enter the mess hall and that if they didn't move, they were all dead.

All he could care about, at that moment, was that his brother was alive and not dead.

* * *

 **Location: Mess hall, North side of Kashyyyk Forward Operating Base**

Bravo Squad, reunited since they first escaped, moved down the staircase towards the basement. They knew that all the facilities, besides the freshers, were connected by an tunnel system that was meant to be used in case of a massive air attack to move between bases.

Falco was in front as his helmet was the only one with a tac lamp. He stood ten metres in front of the rest of the squad. A right turn leading to a doorway up ahead, he ordered Bravo to halt his position while he checked it out for traps. After ensuring that there was no one lurking anywhere, he signaled his squad to move forward, walking through the wide corridor.

The door suddenly slammed shut behind him.

Falco spun around to hear footsteps rushing to the door. He heard the rest of Bravo furiously banging on the door in a desperate bid to get it open.

"Falco?! FALCO? Don't worry, _vod_ , we'll get this stupid door open. For, you got any explosives?" Cryer yelled, spouting the first solution that came to his head

"No, I bloody well don't. I only asked Sarge to get our DC-17s back, not liberate the whole kriffing armory. Sixer, can you hack the door?"

"What does it look like _di'kut_? This is a grade 4 encryption. It's gonna take me at least five minutes to unlock the door. Fierfek, let me focus in peace," Sixer grumbled as he pressed a few buttons.

"It's good to see you after all this time… 1120," a voice said behind Falco, making him jump.

Falco spun around, DC raised at the figure. He instantly recognized the Emperor, who stood fifteen metres away from him, his arms raised away from his sides. His cloak was folded over his shoulders, allowing Falco to see his full facial features, causing him to cringe behind his helmet.

"Stay back, before I pump this blaster into you," he warned as the Emperor flashed a wicked smile at him.

Falco felt uneasy, his head suddenly starting to feel as though a wall was pounding against his skull. He collapsed to his knees, his vision blurring as the Emperor slowly walked towards him. He raised his DC-17 at the Emperor in a desperate last move, pulling the trigger.

But something was blocking his brain from sending the signal to fire. His head was blasting with pain, causing him to remove his helmet and clutch his head tightly. The Emperor nodded as he finally got within a metre of Falco, stopping in his tracks as he bent down to look at the trooper writhing on the ground.

"Yes… do you feel it now, 1120? Is the Project preventing you from pulling the trigger, from killing me, as well as you doing everything I say?" The Emperor laughed as Falco looked up, glaring at him, " Initiate recollection of the project, codeword INHIBITOR

"I'm not 1120, I'm RC-1848… Hoffer is…" his voice trailed off as codeword activated the memories which slammed into him. He remembered everything. Everything from the surgery, the screaming, the torture, to the chip being planted in his head, followed by the assassinations. Everything came rushing back to him. Everything the Emperor had done to him when he was brain dead.

"Yes… you see everything now, 1120? Or should I call you…Hoffer…" The Emperor gloated as he stared at Falco's shocked face.

* * *

 _Author's notes:  
As M. Night Shymalan once said, "What a twist!"  
I'm planning for Chapter 6 to be the final chapter, followed by an epilogue. This series should conclude by either Tuesday or Wednesday. Maybe even earlier.  
This will be followed by either the Prequel or a short story in the Clone Wars. _


	6. Chapter 6: Revelations and Redemption

_Author's notes:_

 _The final chapter is out. The Revalations causes the squad leader to mentally break down. And as they are about to escape, one of them must make the hardest choice in order to protect his brothers.  
_ _Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.  
_ _This Fanfic is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

 _"Tell the_ aruetiise _that they live because we died."_

 _-_ Inscription on the memorial for fallen Mandalorians mercenaries on Kyrimorut.

* * *

 **Date: 21BBY, 3.5 months after the Battle of Geonosis**

Chancellor Palpatine and Colonel Kofer walked into the surgical room. The body of one Clone Commando lay wrapped up in a body bag on one side of the bright, white room. The other Commando sat in a chair, DC-15s Pistol in hand, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Behind him, Doctor Amari greeted the Chancellor as he entered before handing over a datapad.

"Sir, RC-1120 is ready for deployment. As you can see…" the Doctor pointed at the body bag, "We were unfortunate with RC-1848. He passed away before we could properly administer the tests on him."

"I see," the Chancellor let out a frown as he scanned through the details on the datapad, "were you able to complete the back up protocol?"

Doctor Amari let out a grin as she walked over to Hoffer, who at this point looked up at her. His hand was still on the DC, as though it was a comfort blanket. "Yes sir, if you ask him for his identity, he will declare he is RC-1848. We were able to transfer over 1848's memories perfectly to RC-1120," she gestured at the Commando, who appeared to be getting more agitated at the Doctor.

Doctor Amari simply looked down at the Commando before continuing her speech, "he is the best work I've ever completed. He will fully comply with every single order you give him. Ranging from simple stalking to the most complex assassination, he will obey. I was unable to transfer over 1848's personality though, so 1120 will continue to be a very quiet and to-the-point person."

She gestured for Chancellor Palpatine and Kofer to move to the side of the room before whispering, "mind you, he will obey behave accordingly for the next two weeks. I can't guarantee that 1120 will comply with every order after that period. His memories from whatever you tell him to do will be locked behind this codeword. His genome has Fett DNA in it, something that I can't switch off to make him able to ober you forever," she swept her hand in the air, "unless I get some data from Kamino, then that will be…" she trailed off as Palpatine raised a hand in the air to call for silence.

"I think I perfectly understand what you are saying Doctor, I will only need 1848 for the next week. Once he is finished with his work, I will return him to his Commando unit. Colonel Kofer will see to it that you are well…compensated for this job," Palpatine motioned at Kofer.

"Thank you, sir, I'll never forget this opportunity of research that you…" Amari never got to finish her sentence as Kofer pulled a small hold-out blaster and shot her point blank in the face, which caused Hoffer to jump out of his seat and point his DC at Kofer.

"Now, 1120, do not point your weapon at the Colonel, she'll be your handler from now on," the Chancellor ordered at Hoffer, after which he dropped his hands to his sides.

The Chancellor turned to look at Kofer, who was apparently shocked at Hoffer's obedience. She had read the several reports that Hoffer was a hard man who never looked up to politicians and refused to take orders from them unless it was through a military officer. She turned to look at the Chancellor.

"Colonel, meet me in my office in thirty minutes, I have so ops for you that 1120 here will carry out," he turned back to look at Hoffer, who was now looking at Amari's corpse, "as for you 1120, you will carry out every single order that the Colonel and I tell you to the letter, do I make myself clear?"

Hoffer nodded his head instantly, ready to complete whatever tasks his masters ordered him to do.

* * *

 **Date: 18BBY**

"So then began the long lists of activities I ordered you to do, and you completed them with competence," the Emperor uttered at the Commando looking back up at him in shock.

Falco – Hoffer – couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was certain that this was all a dream and that he was actually dead. The memories that the Emperor unlocked however, confirmed everything that the Emperor was saying. He hit his head on the ground, trying to reject them as lies.

"You did everything I asked. You planted a device on the Republic Assault Ship _Prosecutor_ , which would lead the Trandoshans to tracking down the ship eight months later. You assassinated the Chief of Police on Coruscant, after I found him digging through evidence that would cause me to lose power, and you even assisted in a few of Cad Bane's adventures on my orders," The Emperor continued as Hoffer writhed on the ground, practically begging hi to stop.

"So this is how this is going to play out," The Emperor growled at Hoffer, "you're going to stand up and aim your rifle at the door. Once it opens, you will shoot every single one of your brothers. If not, I will tell them the truth before killing them slowly, followed by you."

The Emperor kicked Hoffer's DC-17 back at him.

Hoffer had no choice but to comply, standing up and pointing his blaster at the door. The doors opened to show For and Cryer pointing their weapons straight, staring right at Hoffer.

"We heard everything from the other side _vod_ , these doors aren't exactly soundproof," Cryer said as he rapped his knuckles on the door, "As for Kofer, I can't believe it, man. She was our mongrel advisor until Order 66 went down. But Hoffer, buddy, come on. Stop what you're doing and let's get out of here."

Hoffer remained silent as the Emperor grinned behind him, loving how the situation was working out. He expected to see Hoffer gun down the three of them before turning his weapon himself.

What he didn't expect, however, was Hoffer suddenly turning around and straight up shooting him in the chest. The Emperor fell back to the ground, cursing. This was what his vision was trying to tell him. As he hit the ground, the Emperor looked up to see Hoffer ordering his men to run to the military landing pads and that they would talk about this later.

The Emperor cursed, promising that when they track down another person in the future, he would meditate more to predict future events clearly, vowing that this never happened to him again.

* * *

"Move it! Come on, we're nearly there!" Hoffer barked at his men as they stepped into fresh air.

The first thing that Sixer noticed as he breathed in the air was how fresh it was. The scenery was so peaceful, much more than his days spent training with Skirata. He always treasured the outside air. The second thing he noticed was the air was interrupted by a piercing loud noise as the TIV above them landed on the ground, its cargo bay door opened to a sweep of fire from its west as a group of Stormtroopers desperately opened fire on it.

"Get in, you fools. I don't want a missile up the chaff. Chop chop!" Slick yelled through the mike as Bravo scrambled over the rough terrain to reach the TIV, occasionally pausing to cover and pick off a few Stormtroopers. They worked like a machine, efficient and deadly as Stormtrooper after Stormtrooper fell. But for everyone that fell, however, another seemed to take their place.

"Took you long enough, idiots," Slick complained as they stumbled into the cockpit of the TIV, "I dropped Jeff off a while ago. The butt wiper was still complaining as I pushed him out of the ship. Now strap in boys, as soon as I clear the atmosphere, I'm jumping to…"

"Heads up!" For yelled as he spotted a black cape marching towards them. Vader was marching across the landing pads, admittedly looking furious, if anyone could see his facial expressions, as he marched towards them.

"Son of a nerf herder, something's holding us down," Slick screamed as he smacked the TIV's controls just as someone ran back into the cargo bay, "Must be that black fool out there. He's using his stupid force to…"

"It's okay, guys. I'll cover you… GO!" Every clone on the TIV looked around to nice that one of them had jumped out of the back hatch and was running towards a gun emplacement at the side of the pads.

"HOFFER! You _di'kut_ , get your _shebs_ back in the dropship now. We are not leaving without you!" Cryer yelled angrily as he walked back towards the open hatch, only to get pounced on by both For and Sixer.

"NO! We're already gonna lose one man today, we're not losing another. His minds made up. And you told me about Hoffer, that once he makes up his mind, he never changes it."

As Cryer sobbed into the flooring of the TIV, Hoffer was running towards the gun emplacement. He opened fire at the few Stormtroopers blocking his path, praying that his gun didn't detonate in his hands because of how hot it felt in his hands. He was suddenly hit on the back of the head.

As Hoffer was lying on the ground, he looked up at Captain Staffen. The ISB officer was holding onto Hoffer's DC-17. Staffen was furious, as he was looking at a demotion over this entire incident on Kashyyyk. With fury burning in his eyes, Staffen pulled the trigger of the DC. Hoffer smiled, causing Staffen to wonder what the Clone was so happy about.

Those were the last thoughts that he ever thought about as the DC exploded in his hands, killing the Captain instantly.

* * *

Hoffer looked up, horrified that he was blinded by the man's blood. Regaining his composure, he continued to make his way towards the gun emplacement. As he seated himself onto it, he turned the turret, aiming it at Vader. He was now at least seven metres from the TIV.

Vader flinched as the turret opened fire on him. It's big guns were perfect for the job. As the TIV lifted off, Hoffer let out a smile as he continued to spin the turret, taking more of the Stormtroopers down. In his helmet, he could hear Cryer sobbing, with Sixer letting out a few sniffles and such.

"Thanks, _ner vod,_ your story of honour will go on for generations," Hoffer heard For mutter over the comlink before the man sat down silently in the TIV, wondering what was going to happen to his Sergeant on the ground.

Hoffer lived long enough to hear his comlink line cut as the TIV entered hyperspace. He stopped firing the turret, as the Stormtroopers surrounded his position. Hoffer looked down at the remnants of the ISB officer lying on the ground. If it weren't for his ordering of killing the Wookies, none of this would have happened.

A Lieutenant cuffed him to the gun emplacement before ordering the other Stormtroopers to go find someone to assist whoever was wounded on the field before pausing as Darth Vader walked up to the deserter. Hoffer, however, couldn't give a damn about the Dark Lord, staring back defiantly at him.

"IC-1120, you are hereby charged with treason of the Empire," Vader declared as he unhooked his lightsabre from his belt and activating, not caring for any of the orders his master had given him, "the punish for this crime is the death sentence, which I am about to carry out. Any last words?"

Hoffer spat in the Dark Lord's direction as he uttered his final words. The words which Kal Skirata taught him, not Falco, all those years ago as he wandered the halls of Tipoca City during the time he was supposed to sleep. The words, which he had never forgotten even when Project INHIBITOR was online.

" _Aliit ori'shya tal'din, di'kut."_

And then he felt sizzling pain, followed by nothing.

* * *

Slick declared they had to dump the ship somewhere before catching a ride to Mandalore. The crew of the _Ranger_ lounged around in silence for the first few hours, wondering what they were going to do next as soon as they left hyperspace.

Cryer was unable to think of anything as he was knocked out. For had deliberately put a sedative in the man's caf, which caused him to black out seconds after he had drunk it. Cryer had already been put through a lot of trauma.

For, Sixer and Slick sat in the cargo bay of the ship. It was two hours since they had jumped. They were certain that Hoffer was dead, for the Dark Lord would surely have executed him on Kashyyyk. No proper trial, no jury, just an executioner. A shame, really, as it showed how the Republic had fallen into a dictatorship.

"We're gonna tell their story to his Sergeant, Vau. I'm sure he's on Mandalore," For interrupted the silence, snapping Sixer and Slick out of their daydream, "The _Cuy'val Dar_ returned to Mandalore after their desertion. I heard it from a buddy of mine stationed on the Mandalore Garrison. We'll get suits of _beskar' gam_ and track them down," he paused as he stood up before coutinuing. "Vau and Skirata deserve to learn the truth of what happened to both of them, Falco and Hoffer."

"He never got to discuss this with us, you know," Sixer muttered, "he deserves the chance to see us happy and free."

For patted his brother on the shoulder, enough to get the deserter to turn and look at him, "I'm sure he's already looking down at us. One day we're gonna tip a pint of ale in the sky at him, but for all we know, he's gonna be tipping his back down to us."

For walked to the bunks in between the cargo bay and the cockpit to rest, leaving the pilot and slicer behind. He already had a hell of a day. From being chased in the forests of Kashyyyk to fighting for his life in the base, he had enough. He was going to listen to Hoffer's words and settle down on Mandalore, probably have a nice _Mando_ wife, maybe two kids.

But the time would come, however, when he would take revenge against the Empire. He would destroy it, and ensure that it couldn't rise again in the future. For laid down on the bunk, shutting his eyes, dreaming that he would track down the Sergeants on Mandalore and plot with them to end the Empire once and for all.

For now, however, just wanted his beauty sleep.

* * *

 _Author's notes:  
_ _And that is The Desertion of Bravo Squad. Hope you all enjoyed it. I'm wriing the Epilogue which will tell of the fate of the remaing characters.  
_ _As for the Prequel, I have already commenced on writing it. It will be published on either Thursday or Friday.  
_ _For the execution of Dr. Amari, I based it off a scene from Person of Interest. I also based the Emperor's character off that of Greer.  
_ _Well, see you soon for the Epilogue._


	7. Epilogue: Homecoming

_Author's Notes:  
This Epilogue is very short. I mean very. It sets up the sequel which I will write after the Prequel of Bravo Squad.  
See you lads on Wendesday.  
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.  
This Fanfic is heavily influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

 _"Life is a gift that everyone cherishes, but eventually has to return."_

\- Mandalorian proverb

* * *

 **Date: 18BBY, six months after the Desertion Incident**

"They're in here."

Skirata and Ordo walked into the back of the tapcaf in Keldabe with Fenn Shysa leading the way. The _Mand'alor_ rarely ever asked the former _Cuy'val Dar_ out for social calls, and when he did it was only to discuss what to do with the stupid Imperial Garrison on their front doorstep. Ordo had spent weeks, about a year studying the Garrison only to discover that they mostly kept to themselves.

Maybe it was because they were scared of Mandalorians as much as any _aruetii_ would be.

Fenn Shysa gestured to the four men in the booth. They were all sitting in different coloured _beskar' gam._ Ordo noted that they had all kept their helmets on in the sweltering heat of the tapcaf kitchen. It was always best to keep it on especially when all your faces were the exact same. He decided to stand next to the doorway in case some _di'kut_ decided to wander into the back to cause trouble.

Behind his helmet, For stared at the former Sergeant as he took a seat next to him. He longed for the nostalgic feeling of his old Katarn armor, but was willing to admit that this new set of Mandalorian armor from Shysa kicked ass. For, and most of the squad, had put on some weight, finally free to choose whatever they wanted to do or eat. Skirata, on the other hand, had clearly lost a lot of weight, which For took as the man suffering from some sort of disease. Fenn sat next to Cryer, who looked down at the table, still traumatized over the Desertion Incident.

No one said anything for a few seconds, which felt like it lasted an eternity. For suddenly coughed, causing the rest of the table to perk up.

"…We heard that you have a refuge for… ex-military personnel here. We've had enough of the Empire and want out. I've also got a story to tell you… about one of our _vod_ who died… getting us out of dodge…"

Ordo noted that his _buir_ instantly reached out to pat For on his shoulder. The man appeared to let out a sob as Skirata comforted him, reaching into his pocket for a pack of warra nuts, which caused Cryer to look up at it.

"It's okay, _adi'ka_ , welcome home."

* * *

Deep in the heart of Imperial City, the Emperor sat in his throne room, meditating, as he needed to recover from the wound he sustained at the hands of Hoffer. He would never forget that name.

A blonde-headed shadow entered the room, as though she knew that he was about to call her. She stood at ease, wondering what it was that the Emperor was so impatient to see her about. She had never seen him this excited, not since the night that Order 66 was activated.

"So you're Director of Special Forces now," The Emperor muttered under his breath as he turned his throne around to look at her, "These are your orders then. You are to assign a Commando squad to find the remnants of Bravo Squad and eliminate them. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," she paused, sweeping her blonde hair over her shoulder before daring to continue, "too be honest, I don't like the way this is playing out, sir. Those men followed our orders to the letter, especially during the Clone Wars. Don't you think they deserve an out, sir?"

"That sounds like treason, Director, are you trying to get killed?"

"… No, sir," Kofer angrily whispered under her breath as she left the room, feeling sad for the men that she had advised throughout the Clone Wars, and the painful deaths that were coming to all of them.

* * *

 _Author's Notes:  
Thank you for giving my first Fanfic a chance. At the time of writing this, it got 200+ views, and that's 180 more than I was expecting.  
See you guys on Wednesday for the Prequel._


End file.
